Maru
by PinkBubbleGum
Summary: The story of Max's daughter. M/Z. Sequel to If Dreams can come True, but can stand alone. *Ch8 now up*
1. Prologue

Maru is a five year old girl __

Disclaimer: These characters aren't mine they belong to Fox. Except Maru, she's mine.

Maru is a five year old girl. She is faster stronger, quicker, and smarter than any other child her age. That's not surprising though, considering her parents are only part human. Her parents are a part of a secret organization called Manticore. Maru's father is Zack. As a child he was considered the best. The perfect prototype of the group X-5. One night one of his siblings died. Zack organized his other siblings and they tried to escape. Only 12 made it out. Out to a world they knew nothing about. A world they were always running and hiding in. But now, 22 years after the escape, things have changed. The escaped X-5's are back at Manticore, but of their own free will. Maru's mother, Max, was one of the X-5's who didn't go back, but she wasn't running anymore. She had a family, a daughter. Now once everything has settled down, someone is lurking, waiting for revenge…


	2. Family

Disclaimer: Only Maru and Maxie belong to me, the rest belongs to Fox __

Disclaimer: Only Maru and Maxie belong to me, the rest belongs to Fox.

"Maru come here, Daddy's back and it's bed time," Max called to her daughter. Maru had been playing in the field out behind their house. Along with Maru came her two cousins, Case and Maxie. Case was the oldest by 5 years at age 15. Maxie was 10 years old, five years older than five year old Maru, who was the baby of the family.

"Daddy you're home!" the little girl yelled jumping into her father's arms.

"Hey Sweetie. Have you been good for your Momma?"

"Of course Daddy. I'm always good," she replied a little too innocently. Maru was well known as being a troublemaker. She was always getting into one thing or another.

Once Zack called sentimentality phony. When Manticore was using Case and his father Charlie to get Tinga. Zack refused time and time again to help. It was Tinga's fault that her family was in trouble, and she had to deal with it. But in the end he helped, but Tinga ended up dead. Now Zack is a loving father and husband. Manticore doesn't know a lot about Maru. All they know is that Max was pregnant, and now has a daughter. They know Zack visits Max a lot, but they don't know they're married. They aren't married in the legal since, but if they don't really exist, why should they be legally married?

"Momma, tell me a story," asked Maru as Max was tucking her into bed.

"Ok, what kind of story?"

"Princess Tinga and her family." This didn't surprise Max. All three of the kids loved the Princess Tinga stories. Tinga told Case the story when everyone thought her name was Penny.

"Once upon a time in a far away land there was a castle. Inside the castle there lived many princes and princesses. They were held in the castle by an evil king…" Everytime the story was told little details got changed, and more parts were added. All the kids ended up listening to the story, they all loved it. Soon after Maru was asleep, Case and Maxie went to sleep, too.

"The best part of the day is the end of it. When the kids are asleep," Max announced as she sat down beside Zack on the couch.

"I'll agree with that. Case is a handful sometimes, but Maru is… um…"

"It's ok Charlie. You can call Maru a pain in the but. I think we all can agree she is."

"My little girl. A pain? Impossible."

"Yeah Zack. You only think that she's not because Maru loves you and she doesn't see you enough, so she's good for you."

The adults conversation went on for awhile until they got tiered and when to bed, not knowing tomorrow was going to be the beginning of the worst year of their lives…


	3. Conspiring

"So, are you going to help me or not __

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine they belong to Fox.

"So, are you going to help me or not?"

"What will we get in return? We can't have a deal if you're the only one who profits."

"If you help me take down Manticore, then you'll get to keep any DNA you collect from those you capture. And you'll get to keep X-5/452's child. How's that for a deal?"

"Perfect. We'll help you, but if you try to double cross us, even a little, the deal's off. Understood?"

"Yes, of course."

"Where should we start?"

"I know that X-5/452 lives out side of Seattle on an acreage. I've also heard that X-5/599 is there. Along with X-5/656's son, and perhaps X-5/331 and her child."

"Well this will be profitable."

"Indeed it will be."


	4. M.I.A.

"Maru what are you doing __

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine except Maru.

"Maru what are you doing? We're trying to sleep."

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come into be with you. Is that ok?"

"Sure Sweetie." Maru doesn't like sleeping by herself, especially when her father is around. She will sleep by herself for a while, then she goes and snuggles in with her parents. Or just her mom, if Zack's not around.

Zack suddenly herd a noise outside. "Max did you hear that?"

"Hear what? It's the middle of the night, in the country, there's nothing to hear except animals."

"I herd something." Maru said. She started to cling to her mom and dad in fear. "I hear a lot of things. Sounds like people sneaking around." Maru has amazing hearing. It was far better than either of her parents or any of the other X-5's.

"Zack and Max were suddenly wide wake. Zack whispered, "Give me Maru. I'll go get Case and Maxie, you go get the others up." Max nodded her head in agreement, handed Maru to Zack and quickly, but carefully went to get the others. Zack with Maru went to get the kids. The kids were in the next room. They had all been sharing Maru's room. Max had to go all the way down the stairs and to the other side of the medium sized house to get to the others.

Before Max had gotten completely down the stairs the windows and door burst in. Men with guns and dressed in black were standing ready for attack. Jace heard the noise and was up on her feet faster than she had ever been before. The only thing Jace really cared about was making sure her daughter was all right.

Charlie woke up too. Only not as fast, considering he was a normal human. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, come with me. We need to get out of here. I'm sure Max and Zack will get the kids out." Charlie, not knowing what else to do, followed Jace.

The soldiers saw Max and shot her with tasers. Jace had more of a warning about the soldiers and was able to get her and Charlie out side, although both were a little bruised. They carefully and cautiously worked their way towards the woods a little ways to the east of the house.

Upstairs, Zack had grabbed the kids and climbed out a window with them into the apple trees behind the house. He knew Maxie and Maru were very good at sneaking around in the backyard and the woods, so he told them to stick together and get into the woods. They did what he said, but they stayed in his line of vision. Zack went with Case, because Case wasn't as good at sneaking around as the younger kids.

"Maru, you're ok? I was so worried. Where's Maxie?"

"I don't know Auntie Jace. Maxie was right behind me, but then I turned around and she was gone," cried Maru.

"It'll be ok Sweetie, we'll find her. Now where's your dad and Case?"

"We're right here. Are you all ok?" Zack announced coming out from behind the bushes. "We'd better get going."

"Go where Big Bro?"

"Manticore. It' s the only place we can go. We need their resources to find Max and Maxie. I'm not leaving them with the enemy."

"How do we know Manticore didn't do this?" Charlie asked joining the conversation.

"It's not Manticore's style. Besides, what's the point of capturing us? We work for them. It doesn't make sense."

"I work for them, so do the others. Jace, you and Max don't. Maybe they want you back and the kids, but it's doubtful. So do we stay or go to Manticore to figure this out?"

"Staying is stupid, so I guess we could head back to Manticore for now." So Zack, Jace, Charlie, and the two kids stole a car and headed for Manticore.


	5. Surprise

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, except Maru __

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine, except Maru.

"Are we almost there, Daddy?" Maru asked.

"Not any closer than the last time you asked," Zack's patience with his daughter was wearing thin. Maru could barely sit still for a couple minutes, let along a couple hours.

Jace being the peacemaker stopped the argument. "Maru, why don't you get Case to tell you more Princess stories. Zack, concentrate on driving."

So, for the rest of the trip to Manticore, Case told Maru stories. The others helped with the stories too.

"This is a secured installation, Sir. I'm going to have to ask you to turn around," the guard at the gate to Manticore said. He didn't recognize Zack. Zack didn't have his ID, it was still in the house. So Zack improvised.

"Colonel Lydecker is expecting us. So, either you let us pass or contact Lydecker and tell him his guests are here."

The guard still didn't let them pass, but he contacted Lydecker. Lydecker wasn't really expecting them. Actually they were the last people Lydecker was expecting, short of the Easter Bunny. He told the guard to escort them to his office. 

Lydecker was waiting in his office when the guard brought Zack and the others in. Lydecker wasn't at all surprised to see Zack. Zack has been in his office many times. Jace, Charlie, Case, and Maru surprised Lydecker immensely. He hadn't seen Jace in about six years, she went AWAL when she found out she was pregnant with Maxie. Charlie and Case he meet a few months later. Case was only about five years old then. Lydecker had never seen Maru, but he could easily see the resemblance between her and Max. Where Max was, and Jace's daughter made Lydecker wonder. "Well, this is a pleasant surprise," Lydecker said after taking them all in.

Jace wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, so she jumped past the pleasantries and went strait to the issue. "We have a problem."

"Really? What's that?" 

"Someone…"

"Jace calm down. It'll be ok," Zack interrupted. He realized Jace was very worried about her daughter, and would do anything to get her back. "Someone knew we were all at Max's place. They came perfectly armed for capturing us."

Lydecker was very interested, "Was there any casualties?"

"Yeah, they got Mommy and Maxie. We got to get them back," Maru said. She had been trying to get Zacks attention for the last few minutes. She was tiered of how the adults always had to slowly get to the point. She agreed with Jace, they had to get her mom and cousin back immediately. Maru quickly decided to get on with the more important news and she announced, "Daddy my wrist really hurts."

Zack looked down at her wrist. It was swollen and starting to bruise. Lydecker looked completely shocked that Maru called Zack 'Daddy'. "You should all go to the infirmary and get yourselves checked out. There might be more than just a broken or sprained wrist. I'll meet you there and we can finish this conversation."

With that Zack picked up Maru and carried her to the infirmary. She always claimed she couldn't walk when injured. Lydecker had obviously told the doctors they were coming, because they had bandages and other supplies out. Maru's wrist was only sprained, so the doctors wrapped her wrist up in a tensor bandage. While they were all getting checked out Lydecker came into the infirmary and started to talk with Zack.

"So, Maru's your daughter?"

"Yes. I was wondering how long it'd take you to comment on that. And yes Max is her mother."

"That was obvious. She looks a lot like her mother. What happened?"

"We were sleeping and then the soldiers broke in. Max got hit with tasers. The rest of us got out, but Maxie slipped and they were able to grab her."

"If Max got shot with tasers, how was she able to slip?"

Zack, trying hard not to laugh explained, "Max, Maru's mom, got shot by the tasers. Maxie, Jace's daughter, slipped. Jace was going to name her child Max, whether it was a boy or girl. To keep it from getting confusing, we call little Max, Maxie."

"Oh, well that makes sense. I'll get some of my people to try and figure out who has Max and the girl. Hopefully we'll know soon."

"Well whoever it was, they knew what they were doing."


	6. Alive?

_Disclaimer: I only own Maru, Syd, __Cam__, Tor, and Quinn. Fox owns the rest._

_Rating: G_

_Note: Sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out. I've had major writers block. I started this story in school, and without school I just don't have any ideas for it. Anyho, enjoy._

After hours of trying to figure out who has Max and Maxie, no one was any closer to an answer. Everyone's patience was wearing out. Especially concerning Maru. Maru is a well known mischief maker, and at Manticore there's a lot to get into. Everyone was ready to put her in a cell to keep her out of the way, but the one thing that everyone forgot was that Maru has excellent hearing and she never tells anything without prompting.

"Dammit. We're never going to find them."

"Don't worry Daddy, you'll find Mommy and Maxie. I know you can. If you ask me to help I will."

"I don't think there's anything you can do, Sweetie."

"I could, I could, I could help a lot. Just ask and I could help." Everyone who knew Maru knew that she had something she wanted to say, but wouldn't until she was asked.

Jace crouched down and decided to ask Maru, "So, how could you help?"

"I herd the bad people talking while we were sneaking out of the house," Maru whispered into Jace's ear.

Zack herd what Maru said and decided to keep her talking, "What did they say?"

"They said that they had one of the X-5's and one of the kids. They said She would be happy, but what they got to help Her wasn't fair. They didn't like Her who ever She was."

"She?" Jace repeated. "They couldn't be talking about Her? Could they?"

"No, She's dead," Zack replied.

"You sure?"

"No." Zack looked concerned and decided to continue interrogating his daughter. "Did you hear anything else, Sweetie?"

"Nope."

"Are you sure?"

"Yupe."

Jondy had listened to this whole conversation and was totally lost, "Who's She?"

Zack and Jace both gave Jondy a 'use your head' look. Jondy realized who 'She' was and all that Jondy could say was, "Oh. That's not good."

Later that day all the Rouge X-5's meet in the lounge to discuss everything. The Rouge X-5's are the ones who escaped and hadn't been reindoctrinated. Those X-5's included Zack, Max, Jondy, Syl, Krit, Zane, Jace, Syd, Cam, Tor, and Quinn. Maru, Charlie and Case were there, too.

"How can She be the one behind the attack? Isn't She dead?" asked Quinn. Quinn wasn't there when they killed Her and so he was confused.

Krit answered, "Yeah, She should be dead. I saw and heard Max snap Her neck."

"Who are we talking about?" Charlie asked.

The hate was obvious in Zack's voice as he answered, "The bitch that killed your wife, the former director of Manticore. Renfro."

Charlie nodded his head. Max had told him about Renfro. After She was dead the council was willing to listen to what Lydecker had to say. When the Rouge X-5's escaped, it nearly destroyed Manticore. So, after they willingly returned, funding for the project skyrocketed. Now the Rouge X-5's more or less work for Manticore. They don't get paid but they're allowed to come and go as they please. They also work in the areas that they like. Jondy works in the labs, Zane works with mechanics, and so forth. Max and Jace are the only X-5's that don't work at Manticore, but they aren't on the run either.

"Ok, Now that we all know who we're talking about. The question comes back to the fact of is She or isn't She dead?" Jace said steering everyone else back on track.

Case might be the second youngest in the room, but he pointed out the most obvious thing, "If She's dead, wouldn't her body be somewhere? Like buried or records of her being cremated?"

"There was a fire in the building where she was killed. The building was totally destroyed before we could get the body out."

"Still, Case is has a point. I should've realized this sooner."

"What is Syl? Spit it out."

"The bones should've been found. They don't burn to ashes."

"But her neck was snapped!"

"Maybe… umm… I don't know. People break their necks in accidents all the time. It was a crazy night. We might not have realized She wasn't totally dead. One of her loyal henchmen might've gotten her out."

After Syl finished talking the others realized she could be right. No one had proof that Renfro was dead. And Renfro would've had motive behind capturing Max and Maxie.

"I'll go talk to Lydecker," Zack said getting up. "You guys should get some sleep."

"But I don't sleep, Daddy."

"Maru! Just go relax in your room!" 


	7. A Short Interlude

_Disclaimer: Only Maru's really mine, but I wish the rest were._

_Rating: PG_

**A Short Interlude**

"You're right," Lydecker agreed. Zack had just filled Lydecker in on what the others had figured out about Renfro. "We don't have proof if she's dead or not. It's not much, but it's a lead. Is that all?"

"No, it concerns the kids," said Zack. He decided now was as good a time as any to ask. "They're getting very restless. I don't think Maru or Maxie have ever spent more than several hours a day inside. They need to use up their energy somehow. Sooner or later they'll mess something up with all the energy they have."

Lydecker understood what Zack was saying. Maru and Maxie, especially Maru, have a lot of energy. They needed to use it up. "I think that I could arrange a section of the woods to be empty for them to play in."

"Thanks," replied Zack. He left Lydecker's office to meet with the others. Zack walked into their barracks to see everyone was sleeping. The only ones not in the barracks were Jace, Charlie, and the kids. Lydecker offered them VIP rooms because they generally didn't stay at Manticore.

"Psst Maxie," whispered Maru to her cousin. They were sharing the bed and Jace took the couch. 

"What?" Maxie mumbled back. She was still half asleep so it sounded more like 'whmm?'

"I'm hungry. Let's go get something to eat."

Maxie was slightly more awake at this point and she looked over to the clock. "But it's three in the morning. Go back to sleep."

After Maxie rolled over and fell back asleep, Maru slid out of bed and walked over to her Aunt. Maru stood in front of her Aunt for a few minutes debating weather or not to wake her up. In the end Maru decided not to. She walked to the door and slowly slid it open so the door wouldn't creak. Maru was able to get from the VIP quarters to the X series barracks without running in to anyone.  

Once Maru figured out where in the barracks her family was, she slid into that room.

Zack was always a wear of everything around him, even while he slept. So it only took him  a  moment to realize someone was standing beside his bed.

"Maru? What're you doing here?" Zack asked concerned and now fully awake. Several of the other X-5's stirred and woke up, but then pretended to still be fast asleep.

 "I'm hungry and I had a bad dream," Maru whispered. She crawled into Zack's arms when he motioned for her to snuggled up to him.

Zack replied softly, "The hunger I can't do much about. There's no one in the kitchen this early, but the bad dream I could fix. Why was your dream so bad? Unless you really knew Zack you wouldn't think he could be this caring.

"Everyone was disappearing in my dream. And soon I was all alone. I was crying and crying but no one was coming."

Maru started to cry as she told her father about her bad dream. Zack held her close and pulled down onto the bed beside him. Soon Maru fell fast asleep and Zack stayed awake, watching his little angel sleep.

"Tag! You're it!" Maxie had just jumped out from behind a tree and tagged Case. Maru, Maxie and Case had been playing games out in their section of the woods all morning.

"How about we get Maru and go get some lunch. I'm starved," suggested Case before Maxie ran off.

"Sure," agreed Maxie. "Maru, game's over!"

The section was big enough to play in, but not so big that Maru wouldn't be able to hear someone yelling to her. 

"Maru come out. This isn't funny," yelled Case. He wasn't too worried. Maru did this every time they wanted to go inside. She would come out after a few minutes. But a few minutes pasted then five and ten. Case was the fist to say it, "Something's wrong. Let's go get Uncle Zack." 

Maxie agreed and off they ran back inside to find Zack. 

Zack was in the mess hall with Jace, Charlie, Jondy and a few other X-5's. The mess hall was mostly empty and so they noticed immediately when their kids came running in, out of breath and missing the youngest.   

Jondy was the fist to ask, "What's wrong? Where's Maru?"

"We were playing tag in the woods, and then when we yelled to Maru to come out because we were going inside she never came. We waited and waited but she never fools around for that long. She thinks it's too boring," explained Case and Maxie together.

The adults all glanced at each other before jumping up and going off in separate directions. Charlie stayed with the kids.  

_***I wrote this section a long time ago and now I have no ideas where I was headed. So, if you have any ideas please feel free to let me know. ;) _


	8. Found Again

_Rating: PG_

**Found Again**

"Oww, where am I?" whispered Maru into total darkness. The one thing she knew was that she was in some kind of vehicle, but where and with whom was still a mystery to her. After trying to move somewhat she found her arms and legs were chained together.

After several hours, or at least it seemed to be hours to Maru, the vehicle came to a lurching stop.

Maru heard a woman say, "Did you get her?"

"Yes. She's drugged asleep in the back," came the reply. "You want us to get her out?"

"How much sedative did you give her?"

"Enough to knock out an elephant."

So I'm supposed to unconscious. Maru realized and she closed her eyes and pretended to still be out. A man, who Maru thought smelled terrible, climbed into the vehicle and pulled her out. Maru peaked through her eyes and saw that there were very few guards or people of any kind. Maru saw her chance and snapped out of the restraints. No one was expecting this, and so Maru was able to get away. She ran full speed into the trees around the building and found a hiding place. The guards were close behind her. 

After a few minutes to rest and figure out her next step, Maru started to quietly and slowly make her way out of the small forest. Once the sun started to set, the men searching for her started to head back to their base and Maru hurried fast through the trees. 

"Daddy must be worried about me," she whispered to herself. Maru didn't like the sudden silence that encompassed the forest. Luckily Maru was her parents daughter, because she was able to see the trap the enemy had left for her and she made her way around it. 

By the time the sun was starting to rise, Maru had made her way into a small town. She made her way to a phone booth. Searching her pockets she found barely enough change to make a call.

"Here, this is the tape from the woods," announced Lydecker as he popped the tape into a machine. There were millions of cameras situated around the forest so that if anything went wrong, those in charge could see what happened. 

After watching the tape for awhile, Zack, Lydecker and the others in the room were able to figure out what had happened. Maru had gotten bored with playing tag and so she climbed a tree at the edge of her play area and watched the games the other X series were performing. On of the tac leaders came up to Maru and asked her to come out of the tree and so she did. Then before she could react, the tac leader shot her full of a drug and dragged her off.

After watching this Lydecker instructed Zane to go get tac leader Simmons. Once Simmons had arrived Lydecker asked him, "Where's the girl?"

Simmons looked shocked, "What? Which girl?"

"My daughter, the one you drugged and dragged away!" said Zack. His voice was so even, it was terrifying.

"They said I wouldn't get in trouble. That it was for Manticore's research."

"Who said that?"

"Dr. Kyle."

Apparently Dr. Kyle had just gone on vacation leave. Attempts made to reach him were impossible. Simmons didn't know where Maru was taken; they all agreed he was tricked. So, again they were stuck with no leads.

A technician walked hesitantly into the room, "Excuse me sir. But there is a call for Zack on line 3."

"Hello?" Zack asked into the phone. 

"Daddy! Can you come get me?" asked Maru. She seemed to think her all knowing father knew exactly were she was.

After asking Maru if she knew where she was Zack asked Jondy to get a trace on the line. And he asked Maru what had happened, only so that she would stay on the line long enough to trace it.

Jondy shouted, "I got it Zack."

"Thanks Jon. Sweetie, go hide somewhere nearby. I'll be there in a few hours ok?"

"Ok Daddy. Hurry up though, I'm hungry."  

_***Thanks to Avelyn Lauren for the idea for this chapter. More will be coming soon!!! _


End file.
